Stephen Bayliss's Blog

Todays race at Ironman Lanzarote was not so great for me. I finished! But a long way behind today! But thank you to everybody for there encouragement. It was really appreciated, I am sorry we both weren’t able to perform better. It was disappointing but we move on and get back to getting ready for the next race.

It was as always a great event, very well organised and the spectator numbers particularly in Puerto del Carmen was incredible, more than ever, it was amazing, wel done everybody involved.

We are now back to Sands Beach had a lovely dinner and now relaxing before bed.

Last week Bella, Ritchie, Eimear and myself did the Volcano triathlon as part of our training. Below are some pictures. Bella finished 3rd, Eimear 2nd, Ritchie 2nd and I in 5th.
It was a good fun race and just a short drive from our base at Sands Beach in Costa Tequise.

Next for Bella and I is Ironman Lanzarote in just over a weeks time. The island is starting to get prepared for the biggest sporting event of the year. There are many events throught the year, I would guess at about one; run, bike, or multisport race every weekend takes place here on Lanzarote. So it is a great place to train and also get a race in while you are here.

Sands Beach in Costa Tequise is a perfect location to be at for the Ironman week. It is close enough to Puerto del carmen but also far enough away to be able to relax away from the race site too and get in the last training sessions done.

Thanks to Bob Foy for the great photos.

Bella and I did the tri122 race here in Costa Tequise on Saturday, it was so close to our base here at Sands Beach it was perfect for a good training day for us all.

It was a very successfull day for us all too. Bella got 2nd in the Womens long race, I won the mens long race, Ritchie and Eimear both won the short race.

It was a very well organised event and a really challenging course, especially with the really strong gusty wind. I have never been scared of being blown of the road before, but on Saturday up at the top of the mountain by the wind turbines, I really thought I was going to get blown off the road. But fortunately I and everyone else made it down safely:)

While Joseph is here at Sands Beach I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use his skills as a bit fitter and get him to look over my position.

The one thing he liked on my bike was the 3T brezzer bars with the 6cm spacer under the arm rests. I really like this set up as I feel it puts the base bar in a really good position for in and out of the saddle riding.

Jo would normally do this in his shop with the Retul system, but he had a few tools with him to measure joint angles and tape measure and plump lines to help too.

So below is the results of our fit. Photos aren’t great but the best we could do at 6pm at night and with the drug testers as guests as well:)

I am very happy with the results, it feels good and is more aero. Thanks Jo. Get in touch with him if you want a proper bike fit for your new bike.

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On Sunday Ritchie, Bella and I did a short run race as part of our days training. It was great fun with lots of music and lots of runners enjoying the run on the coast path.

Charlie had a great time playing in the park and dancing to the music, it was like an outdoor disco at the park:)

Bella won the womens, Ritchie won the mens and I got 2nd in the mens.

It is actually my birthday today, I was very surprised to of actually got a few presents. Thank you for my 2 new T shirts. I think perhaps people were thinking that I needed them:)

Sands beach also gave me a nice plate of cakes and sweets for my birthday. I might share them out at our afternoon swim:)

Today we go on a Sands Beach Resort outing to the small Island of La Graciosa, just off the coast of Lanzarote. I have always wanted to visit the small beautiful island. We always see the magnificent view of it whenever we ride up to Mirador del Rio, which is on the Ironman bike course at the far north of the island.

We are going to do a 31km trail run race, I was really looking forward to running but I have managed to pick up a sinus infection and so will just be watching, Ritchie also has a cold so he will also watch with Kat Charlie and me. Bella and Eimear will run so we will cheer them on along with all the other runners we are travelling with from Sands Beach.

It is great to be back to the warmth and sunshine of Lanzarote and the great resort of Sands Beach. We had a great time visiting family in London and then in Scotland, but it was very cold and snowy, however it meant that we could spend lots of time with family. Charlie had a lovely time playing with Sonny the dog and his cousins Leo and Josie.

Burns night with the family in Aberdeenshire. Tatties neeps and hagis for dinner then entertainment from all, great fun:)

But now we are back to sands beach and getting going again with the training. I feel quite fat and unfit, but I think I am probably not. We have a really good little group here at sands beach with the TEam TBB UK and Germany athletes all here training hard.

Next race maybe a in a good while. The focus is on some good training for now.

[caption id="attachment_645" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Charlie with Kat on the beach. We all had a lovely Christmas day in Lanzarote:)"][/caption][caption id="attachment_640" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Father Christmas getting mobbed at the Mai Tai bar."][/caption][caption id="attachment_638" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Waiting for Father Christmas to make his way over the bridge here at Sands beach. He did make his way down the beach on a camel which I have a video of, but can\'t uplaod it, so you just have to trust me it was quite a sight:)"][/caption]

On Sunday, Bella and I raced the Lanzarote International Marathon, organised by Sands Beach resort, which is where we are based.

It was a really beautiful course, all down the coast to Puerto Del Carmen, the organisation was great with lots of events all over the weekend, including a kids run race on Saturday which we all enjoyed watching.

For the race I ran steady for 21km then pushed on as best I could, however it was a bit harder than I thought it was going to be on the return leg, with the head wind and my quads deciding they had had enough with about 10km to go. I was very glad to get to the finish in 1st place and then watch as Bella came in to win the womens race. It is really speacial when we both manage to win the same event. I think we have done it about 6times now.

Charlie had a great time enjoying all the events with Kat. He is running everywhere, I think he wanted to take part in the kids race, maybe next year.

We have been all having lots of fun at Sands Beach Resot here in http://www.activelanzarote.com/

We are training hard too:)